Dear friends in Christ, especially you, the "Honored Four."  Today is a great day in your lives and in our lives too.  You have weathered two years of teaching in the Christian faith at the feet of a demanding teacher.  Three of you are the oldest and first to be confirmed in your families, and the fourth is the second in your family that I've confirmed.  Your parents are proud of your coming to this point in your Christian lives where you've learned the fundamentals of the Christian faith and are ready to become communicant members of the church.

          As you do, I hope and pray you will remain faithful to God and His church all your life.  There will be many temptations to fall away from the Lord, to wander from the church and to get lost in a world filled with deceitfully tasty delights.  But wherever you are, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.  Always make it a point to worship and serve the God who's given you the life you are now enjoying.

          There is a special electronic beacon in all airplanes that is turned on as they fly.  If they should ever become lost in a storm, that beacon, called the VOR or "Omni," connects the pilot to the closest airport so he or she can safely land and get protection or be re-fueled.

          There's also a beacon for you in life and it's called the Bible.  If you keep it turned on, it will direct you to the cross of Jesus Christ.  And there are many spiritual airports out there called churches.  If ever you find yourself lost, and you probably will, tune into that heavenly beacon and let it guide you to the nearest airport where Christians will be ready to help you and strengthen you.  Epiphany is but one of thousands of heavenly airports established to guide and re-direct people through life.  And today you will become a fully functioning member of Epiphany Lutheran Airport of Castle Rock.

          Our four young friends are busy people.  Sarah, our import from the north, is a figure skater who practices five days a week and is now learning the double axle, having mastered all the other double jumps.  Leah, an honor student whom I suspect will one day follow her father into the law practice, loves to ride horses.  Scott, our lone boy in this class, just earned his black belt in Tae Kwan Do last weekend, and Kristina, our pixie little honor student who will someday break some boys' hearts, loves to go shopping!  Sarah and Scott are honor students also, so you see these kids are all busy.  And my message from the Lord to you is simple: "Stick with me, kid!"  God wants us to stay faithful and close to Him all through life.  It's not hard to feel close to God on Confirmation Day, but it's really hard to stay close to God if you try to go it alone.

          Last Thursday's windstorm reminded me of a much bigger storm that happened when I was a six year old boy on our farm.  I remember the western sky turning pitch black and my father running into our house shouting that a big storm was coming.  He went back outside to close doors and tend the livestock while my mother ran to close doors and windows.  When the wind came, the trees around our house bent over flat to the ground, and I remember watching as the black storm clouds blew over a big tree in our east pasture, a tree so huge I never imagined it would fall.

          My twenty year-old sister, however, was cool and calm while all the rest of us ran around.  Marian just sat down at the piano and played a song.  And then she turned and looked at me and said something I'll always remember, "Bobby, stick to me like a tick, and you'll be just fine," she said, and then she held me close till the storm was over so I wouldn't be afraid.  I learned some things that day, that when you're unsure of what's happening out there, it's best to stick close to those who love you.  But the other lesson was more vivid;  when you're all alone with nothing to lean on, like that mighty tree all by itself in the pasture, the winds of life can blow you down, no matter how strong you might think you are.

          The early disciples had just weathered a few storms.  They'd seen their Lord and friend Jesus die on the cross, His face twisted in agony, and two days later they'd seen Him alive and smiling again.  Forty days later they saw Him disappear into the clouds, going back to His heavenly home, and a week later they felt the mighty wind of the Holy Spirit blow into their lives to begin the single most powerful movement in all of human history, the Christian Church.  The Holy Spirit moved thousands to turn to Christ, and these people would establish little churches here and there all over the Roman Empire, like the down of a thistle, planting seeds of God's Word everywhere.

          The Christian Church would change for the better more lives and civilizations and nations than all the wars or philosophies or economies humanity could come up with.  And with this short verse of today's text, we see the method of how they did it.  Four simple things:  "They devoted themselves (1) to the apostles' teaching, (2) to the fellowship, (3) to the breaking of bread, and (4) to prayer."

          No greater program has ever been drawn up in the Christian Church than following these four points:  teaching, fellowship, communion, and prayer.  If we engage regularly in these four godly points of light, we can't go wrong.  It's all there:  Teaching, fellowship, communion, and prayer.  It's God's way of telling us, "Stick with me, kid, and you'll be all right."

          "Stick with Me by learning my Word," God says.  Last Thursday one of the parents asked me how many youth I'd confirmed, and I said it was over 300, maybe even 400, as there were some big classes in my last church.  And as I look back, even to recent classes, there are youth who have already fallen away.  They get through Confirmation and then disappear.  And I hate to admit it, but it's usually the parents' fault.  Few 14 year-old kids stop attending church when their parents keep bringing them.  Many parents and students look at Confirmation as a sort of graduation.  You've gone to classes, now go have fun - you don't need that stuff any more.  Too bad, because that's the time they really need it!

          It reminds me of the time that some bats got into a new church.  It was a special new church because it was used by three congregations, one Baptist, one Assembly of God, and the other a Lutheran congregation.  The three pastors got together to solve the problem of the bats.  The Baptist pastor said, "Get me a gun and I'll shoot them."  But they agreed that was no good because the stray bullets might put holes in the roof.  The Assembly of God minister said, "Bring them to me and I'll pray for the forces of darkness to be bound and then the bats will leave."  But they'd already tried lots of prayer, so that didn't seem a good idea.  Finally, the Lutheran pastor got an idea and said, "If we can somehow catch them, I'll baptize and confirm them, and we'll probably never see them again!"

          Of course this class will not be like that because these are great kids, and they know God is telling them, "Stick with me, kid!"  My prayer for you four youth is that you do exactly that, that you stay close to God no matter what.  I know you may wander a little, like we just sang in the song, "to find where demons dwell," but we adults will continually pray you will stay close to God and return to the fold, because this is where your food and fellowship are found.

          In today's text God also tells us, "Stick with Me kid, by coming to Communion."  Communion helps us meet God up close and personal.  He meets us at the altar, one-on-one, in a way that blesses and enriches.  Few people ever say they felt bad after Holy Communion.  They always feel better because they've met the Lord and experienced His love.  Stick with God in communion!

          Then God says, "Stick with Me kid, through fellowship with others."  That big tree in my farm pasture didn't fall because the wind was so great.  It fell because it was all alone.  There's safety in regular fellowship.  It's when we try to go it alone that the winds blow us over.  Someone has called this generation, "Millennials."  They're realistic, practical, street-wise, and dependent on technology, but they're also worried about safety.  My students always open and close our classes with prayer.  It's how they learn to pray - not by studying it, but by doing it.  And not a class goes by but what they always pray, "Dear God, keep us safe."  There's safety in fellowship, so keep coming to church.

          Finally the Lord says, "Stick with me kid, by praying."  In other words, keep on praying!  It's important, and it's practical.  Prayer works!  "Take your worries and cares to Him because He cares for you." says St. Peter (1 Peter 5:7).   There's a lot to be concerned about in our world, but God will take care of us.  And you adults, this message is also for you.  Our world and the church isn't falling apart because we pray too much, but because we pray too little.  God is still in control, and He's said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)

          "They devoted themselves (1) to the apostles' teaching and (2) to the fellowship, (3) to the breaking of bread and (4) to prayer."  Teaching, fellowship, communion, and prayer.  It's a formula that works.  Practice those four and you won't leave the Lord or His Church.  When you are taught what you need to learn, you are strong in the faith.  When you have fellowship in regular worship, you know you are loved.  When you commune regularly at the Lord's Table, you are strengthened.  And when you pray every day, you are in touch with the greatest power in the universe.  And He's telling us all, young and old, "Stick with me, kid!"

          When Carol and I were first married, we were continually learning new things about each other.  One day she did something that amazed me and I told her so.  She responded, "Stick with me, kid, and you'll go far."  I know she was joking, but yet she wasn't.  Because after all the troubles I'd had before, I now know that being married to her is God's way of telling me everything is going to turn out just fine.

          That's God's message to each of us here this morning, whether young or old, "Stick with me, kid, and you'll go far."  So let's do it!  Amen

Copyright © 2002 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.